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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Capcom predicts "significant growth in the DLC market"

Those who loathe the digital market may want to turn away now as Capcom's latest statement is sure to make them cringe. Find out why Capcom has fallen in love with the DLC business model inside.

If Capcom has their way, the DLC market will grow substantially in the future.

Capcom released their 2013 annual report (via Gamespot) and in it they revealed the company will be focusing more on DLC. Capcom admits they see growth in the business model and in turn will help the company profit.

The president and COO at Capcom Haruhiro Tsujimoto said, "But now, even after game sales, the provision of digitally distributed
content (DLC) facilitates longer enjoyment of each title, resulting in a
business model with the potential for earnings on a continuous basis."

Despite the company's past DLC debacle with Street Fighter x Tekken, Capcom still feels they haven't been taking advantage of the business model. Tsujimoto admits, "I regret to say that, up to now, we had few plans for the full-scale
implementation of DLC. From here on out, we need to focus on
the long-term provision of content starting at the
earliest stages of development."

The report also reveals Capcom has $152 million, not substantial for a gaming company as big as Capcom.

Fernando's POV: DLC can help give a dated game some new life by adding new characters, stages and more. What concerns me about Capcom focusing even more on this business model is that they are looking to do it at the "earliest stages of development." That sounds like the SFxT DLC rip-off all over again. Why work on DLC when you've still got an entire project to finish? I hope I am wrong but what this sounds like to me is Capcom is looking to charge $60 for half-assed games and then release DLC at $20 or $40 for a completed version.